February 15, Ht08 



HORTICULTURi: 



•201 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT. 



As spring approaches let us plan, 

 each and every one, to seasonably en- 

 cinirase popular horticulture — the most 

 elevating recreation that can be car- 

 ried to the threshold of every home. 

 This sentiment faithfully put in prac- 

 tice would treble the plant, ilovi'er and 

 seed trade the first season. 



Horticulture is a practical pursuit 

 requiring industry and care rather 

 than scientific learning, yet he who 

 assimilates and digests as much as pos- 

 sible of the fare that science continual- 

 ly places before him, in so far as it 

 has a bearing on his work, will find it 

 all helpful in directing the exercise 

 of his industry and care upon right 

 lines. 



Our Philadelphia correspondent in 

 his usual airy manner comments upon 

 the rumors of petty graft in the pri- 

 vate use of public plants in Boston 

 and Washington and naively adds — • 

 "No such graft has ever been heard 

 of in the Quaker City." That "heard 

 of" is used with wisdom aforethought. 

 Is it possible that the Quaker City is 

 slow of hearing? 



Summei' school gardens, which have 

 been oondueteii liy the i'hllinlelijhia ISnard 

 of Education for several years, will be 

 curtailed this year because of lack of 

 money. This was determined yesterday by 

 the Coniniittee on Special Schools. The 

 action may foreshadow the dropping of 

 the garden system altogether. 



According to the report of William 

 Stecher, director of physical training, 

 there are 59 playgrounds, and the attend- 

 ance during the year just past was 797.- 

 .■)45 children. The average cost of mainte- 

 nance was 3.8 cents per child a day of 7 

 hours. 



At the summer gardens, of which there 

 are 10. the total attendance was 91,IJ<X). 

 They were open only 5 1-2 h<»urs a day and 

 cost 12 1-7 cents a child each day to main 

 tain. 



"I am inclined to question very much 

 the wisdom of maintaining the gardens at 

 all," I^rofessor Stecher said. "The at- 

 tendance Is comparatively sm;i!l and the 

 expense is heavy." 



The above information comes from 

 the Philadelphia Ledger. Physical cul- 

 ture professors' advice is good only 

 to a limit. Philadelphia, we hope, 

 will look to a different source for in- 

 telligent advice concerning the intel- 

 lectual and aesthetic welfare of her 

 little ones. There are times when 

 12 1-2 cents' worth of healthy brain 

 is a better bargain than 3.8 cents' 

 worth of muscle and agility. 



PRIMULA ACAULIS. 



The garden forms of Primula acau- 

 lis, or vulgaris, are numerous, but 

 none are more beloved than the pale 

 lemon-colored original type with its 

 deliciously fragrant blossoms borne 

 singly on slentJer pedicels and wel- 

 comed throughout Europe and especi- 

 ally in England and Ireland as the 

 sweetest herald of spring. It is fairly 

 hardy in the latitude of Boston; it 

 thrives all right in a sheltered loca- 

 tion with a slight mulch of leaves or 

 other material. It is easily raised 

 from seed and improved strains are 

 abundant. As pot-plants for Easter 

 sales these have become very popular 

 in recent years, the New York market 

 especially using enormous quantities 

 of this as well as of the polyanthus 

 types. 



LIBRARY NOTES. 



[Any of the books mentioned In Mr. 

 Payne's reviews can be supplied at pub- 

 lishers' price from the oilice of Horticul- 

 ture.] 



In accordance with our usual cus- 

 tom of giving at certain intervals a 

 few notes on recently published gar- 

 dening books on this side of the 

 Atlantic we have now once again the 

 pleasure of drawing our American 

 readers' attention to those that have 

 appeared since the last contribution 

 under the above heading, The post 

 of honor must unquestionably be ac- 

 corded to a very handsome art volume 

 upon a subject that has already 

 been liberally treated by author 

 and publisher alike and is entitled 

 Italian Gardens, after drawings by 

 (ieorge S. EJgood, R. I., with notes by 

 the artist. (Longmans, Green & Co., 

 London and New York). This is a 

 grand addition to an ever interesting 

 subject of horticultural interest, and 

 this newly published work has the 

 advantage over most of the others of 

 being illustrated entirely in colors, 

 there being 52 plates from drawings 

 by the author. 



The contents contain interesting 

 chapters on the various villas and gar- 

 dens depicted by the brush of the 

 artist; tiiey are mainly descriptive, the 

 historical not being enlarged upon to 

 any great extent. Six main divisions 

 form the entire scope of the book and 

 these are Pompeii, Roman Villas, Villas 

 at Frascati, Florentine Villas, other 

 Tuscan Villas, Villas of Northern Italy. 

 I^rice, $10.00. 



Gardening in Town and Suburb by 

 Harry H. Thomas. (Longmans, Green 

 & Co., London and New York). The 

 author of this little handbook is 

 already known to the readers of Horti- 

 culture, and is one of those writers of 

 the younger generation who promise 

 to occupy a foremost place in garden 

 literature. There is a good deal of 

 practical matter comprised in this 

 handy little volume. There are useful 

 chapters on roses, carnations, lilies, 

 bulbs, annuals, climbers, shrubs, etc. 

 The warm, and cool greenhouse, and 

 window gardening also come In for a 

 share of the author's attention. Pi-ice. 

 63 cents. 



Villa Gardens by W. S. Rogers. 

 (Greening & Co., London). Some few 

 years ago the author of this treatise 

 published a manual on the laying out 

 of Villa Gardens and the book now 

 issued appears to be a cheap reprint. 

 The main idea of the author is the 

 rectilinear system and he gives a 

 number of plans with perspective 

 views of some of his suggested de- 

 signs. In our opinion the book fills 

 a long felt want. Too often we notice 

 in I.,ondon subvirban gardens an abso- 

 lute lack of ingenuity in the laying of 

 them out. Many of the owners affect 

 a kind of wobbly winding path that 

 suggests nothing artistic and rathey 

 causes one to ask if in the planning 

 of the paths the designer was not 

 suffering from shaking palsy. Price, 

 62 cents. 



This is one of the many cheap issues 

 of practical garden books that are 

 being turned out by the many horti- 

 cultural publishers here. It is a 

 closely printed book of 250 pages in 

 paper wrappers, dealing in practical 

 language with almost every phase of 

 the garden art. The work is illus- 

 trated with small line engravings in 

 great profusion and is certainly one 

 of the cheapest books ever published. 

 Price. '2.T cents. 



Bulletin de la Societe Francaise 

 d'horticulture de Londres. This is an 

 annual publication issued by the 

 French Gardeners' Society of London. 

 In every way the society is flourishing 

 and doing a useful work by the way in 

 which it places young French gar- 

 deners in situations In England and 

 young English gardeners in France. 

 It is worthy of note that the society 

 is entirely self supporting and re- 

 ceives no subsidy from the French 

 Government, as some French societies 

 abroad do. Free. 



Flowers and Fruit for the Home by 

 J. L. Richmond. (T. N. Foulls, 

 Edinburgh and London). A series of 

 practical papers on horticulture for 

 amateurs and gardeners by the Gar- 

 den Editor of the well known ladies 

 newspaper "The Queen." It is well 

 printed and contains a number of 

 illustrations of flowers, etc., executed 

 in photographic process blocks of fair 

 average quality. Price, 80 cents. 



. The Book of the Chrysanthemum 

 by Percy S. Follwell. (John Lane, 

 London and New York). This is one 

 of a series of practical garden books 

 which has now reached its 29th 

 volume. The author starts with an 

 account of the history of the chrysan- 

 themum which does not contain evi- 

 dence of very much original research 

 and has several inaccuracies which 

 should be corrected in another edition. 

 Then general culture follows with suc- 

 ceeding chapters on selecting the 

 buds, housing the plants, insects, 

 diseases, hybridizing, raising new 

 kinds from sports. For the exhibitor 

 some special chapters are reserved 

 then follow bush and trained specimen 

 plant culture, market and early varie- 

 ties lor exhibition, etc. Price. 62 cents. 



Rock and Alpine Gardening by H. 

 Hemslev. (J. Cheal and Sons, 53 Vic- 

 toria street 'Westminster). This is a 

 phase of gardening that is unques- 

 tionably attracting a great deal ot 

 attention latterly. Ordinary gardening 

 books more or less contain chapters 

 on the rock garden but there are sev- 

 eral works of recent date that deal 

 exclusively with the subject. Mr. 

 Hemsley is a practical man in the art 

 of rock garden making and his useful 

 little volume will be an acceptable one 

 to anybody intent upon laying out 

 such a desirable addition to one's 

 garden. Price, 87 cents. 



C. HARMAN PAYNE. 



Pictorial Guide to Gardening by the 

 editor of Garden Life. (Cable Print- 

 ing and Publishing Co., London). 



A FRANK TESTIMONIAL. 

 My ad. with you has proved the 

 most effective of any thus far. 



CHAS. A. KIBBE. 

 Elmhurst, 111. 



